Transporting items from the outside to the indoor portion of a building or dwelling place is often cumbersome, time-consuming and difficult. With respect to the transportation of firewood, the task is extremely burdensome. Firewood is traditionally stacked in large quantities in rows outside a dwelling place, and brought within the dwelling place in smaller amounts. For example, a typical arrangement would be for a homeowner to have two or more cords of firewood stacked within the yard surrounding the home. Due to space limitations of the common home, the homeowner is limited to keeping a one or two day supply of firewood inside, in close proximity to the fireplace or woodstove.
A very common method of transporting the firewood indoors is for the homeowner, or the homeowner's family members, to manually carry loads of firewood into the house in their arms. Only a small number of logs can be carried in this manner, requiring many trips into the cold each time the indoor supply of firewood has been depleted. Further, it is often the case that an additional person is required to “watch the door” and open it for the person carrying the logs, for the person carrying the logs is often unable to do anything but support the load of firewood being carried. One result of utilizing this method of transporting firewood is that many trips are often required. Additionally, the door to the outside must be repeatedly opened and closed, which in turn allows heat to escape the dwelling, in direct contravention of the ultimate purpose of bringing fuel into the home in the first instance.
What is needed is a device that will change the traditional means of transporting firewood from the outside to an inside area, that solves these many problems.
Homeowners, and others that store firewood in the outdoors face other problems in addition to transporting the wood indoors. Storing the majority of wood outdoors requires some method of weather protection for the wood itself. Tarps are often employed to keep snow and rain off the tops of woodpiles, as wet wood burns very poorly. Firewood that has become wet must first be dried; accordingly, it cannot be efficiently burned for some time after being brought indoors. Additionally, the greater the number of woodpiles stacked in the yard, the greater the number of unsightly, blue tarps covering the piles. This eyesore detracts from the aesthetic value of the homeowner's yard, as well as potentially upsetting the homeowner's neighbors.
What is needed is a device that will store firewood in such a way that will allow additional time for wet wood to dry prior to burning, reduce the overall quantity of wood stored in the yard, as well as enable people utilizing firewood as a fuel source an alternative intermediate storage location.